Lies and Illusions

We know so little, and the little that we do know, if we don’t like, we dismiss out of hand. Rather than investigating facts, we lie to ourselves and to others and live in a world of illusion fabricated by our imaginations. Instead of going to the effort of finding out real facts and calibrating our narratives using actual information, we find it easier to create stories out of whole cloth, so long as they conform to what we already believe.

This has always been. Despite overwhelming evidence that the Earth is round, many people still believe that it is flat and concoct elaborate explanations as to why it appears spherical from space. After we sent people to the moon, some refused to believe that the moon landing was real and came up with complex conspiracy theories as to what had really happened. No matter the subject, some of us turn away from the investigation of the facts and prefer to imagine an alternative reality.

At this point in history, social media has given unprecedented voice to these narratives, providing a platform for stories and lies to spread and mutate and making it hard to discern reality from illusion. Not knowing what to believe and lacking the skills to find out for ourselves, we’ve come to rely on our social network for confirmation. If we can’t believe our eyes and don’t know how to determine the truth, believing someone we trust feels like the best we can do.

As a result, we have become factionalized and divided, believing different prophets and increasingly unable to think for ourselves. Regarding our health, we listen to politicians we admire rather than to doctors who’ve studied the science. We make financial decisions based on mimes, and use online videos as classrooms without knowing whether the creators of those videos are knowledgeable or truthful. We’ve become complacent and lazy regarding in our sources and verifying our facts.

The line between reality and fiction becomes blurrier daily. Soon, deep fake videos and other technologies might make it impossible for us to determine what’s real. At that point, any lie or story will be as good as the truth, putting immense power in the hands of those who control the narratives. Do we really want to live at the mercy of propaganda machines, corporate spin doctors, or any individual with a computer and an agenda?

Without the ability to discern facts for ourselves, we run the risk of sleepwalking into disaster because we’ve imagined that everything’s fine. We’ll miss the danger signs and dismiss warnings as lies, only to look back in dismay when things have gone too far. Instead of repeating stories from others, we need to ask hard questions, research the facts, and think for ourselves. We are a resourceful and resilient species, but we can also be self-destructive. We must therefore use our imaginations to build a future based on reality rather than just invent stories that make ourselves feel better.